Buck Harvey: Humbly yours — LeBron’s model

“I’m humbled,” he told reporters Monday, “that I can actually be back in this position less than 12 months later and to do a better job of making more plays on a bigger stage.”

So maybe James’ “Not one, not two” speech was a joke. Maybe he never meant to call himself King James, and “The Decision” was nothing more than a marketing misstep.

Or maybe this is about something else. Maybe, instead of becoming a global icon, James thinks it might be smarter this week to become someone else.

Such as Kevin Durant.

Whichever team wins the 2012 title, the NBA already has won. Sports always are better when there is a villain vs. a hero, and last year sold the same. Then, Dirk Nowitzki was embraced as he never has been.

The Spurs missed the same in their four Finals appearances, and they missed by just a few years. When they swept James and Cleveland in 2007, he had yet to alienate everyone outside of south Florida.

James isn’t a bad guy. It’s just that from the day his talent revealed itself, he’s listened to handlers and yes-men.

He’s been told he is special, and he reacted to the world as those nearby reacted to him. He thought a television special to announce his free-agent decision was only fitting of his stature.

Had James and Miami won a year ago, there’s no telling how the Heatles would have toured the country this season. Air Force One might have been required. But they lost, with James shrinking, so maybe it’s no coincidence he is returning to his third Finals acting like his spiritual opposite.

Durant said recently he doesn’t think the comparison is fair when it comes to their contract situations. James was an unrestricted free agent when he made The Decision, and Durant signed an extension before he became a free agent.

But even that tells so much about Durant. He would prefer to support James, even if the specifics don’t. Durant announced his contractual intentions through Twitter, after all, and James through Jim Gray.

Durant has spent his life working for everything but expecting nothing. He told his coaches at Texas, for example, that he didn’t deserve to start, because he played such poor defense.

Humble isn’t something he says about himself. It’s how he lives.

Rick Barnes retold a story Monday, about how Durant was working out in Austin one summer after he’d left school. A UT walk-on went to the gym, new to campus, thinking no one would be there. When he saw Durant with some other players, he felt out of place and veered away.

Durant approached the kid, introduced himself and said, hey, why don’t you shoot with us?

Little wonder the Texas assistant coach, Russ Springmann, has a 17-month-old son named “Durant.”

Durant admits to everything, and he admits he might not have gone to college at all if not for the one-year requirement. But he’s the one-and-done exception who became part of the school, and who says now, “I’ll bleed orange for the rest of my life.”

When UT retired his number in February 2009, there were tears in his eyes.

He’s been the same as a pro. He’s given Russell Westbrook room, and the rest of the Thunder support. He’s become more confident as a man, but he can still act like a kid.

Such as: During the lockout, he tweeted that he was bored and wondered if anyone was up for a flag football game.

He found one at Oklahoma State.

Durant also happens to be one of the two best basketball players on the planet. And maybe the other, James, noticed what he was facing in these Finals, and he reacted accordingly.